A client device—for example, a desktop computer, a laptop, a server, and the like—may be operatively coupled to a service device. Types of service devices include a printer, a copier, a fax machine, a webcam, a television, a set-top box, a camera, or any other appropriate type of appliance or peripheral, that may provide one or more services to the client device. The service device may be operatively coupled to the client device through an appropriate link, e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) link, a wired or wireless network connection, a Bluetooth connection, a serial port connection, a parallel port connection, and the like.
In order to fully utilize the functionalities of a service device, an appropriate driver software (or device driver) typically needs to be loaded, installed, and configured in a client device, as is well known in the art. For example, if the service device is a printer, a printer driver of appropriate type may need to be installed and configured in the client device to enable the client device to access and print via the printer.
A client device can typically retrieve a device driver by accessing an appropriate external storage device, e.g., a CD ROM, a flash drive, etc. Alternatively, a client device may also access a device driver from an external server (e.g., a print server, if the service device is a printer), and/or over a network (e.g., using the Internet or an intranet, from a website of the manufacturer or seller of the service device, etc.).
While device drivers are often accessible to users of client devices through resources mentioned above, in some cases, however, a user of a client device may not have access to a device driver through such resources and/or may not be sure about which device driver to install on the client device. For example, many different device drivers for different types of client devices typically are available for installation on a given client device, and selection of an appropriate (or correct) device driver from among a plurality of device drivers may be a difficult task.